Munich Startup: What does Truly do?What problem are you solving?
Timo Wagner, Co-Founder Truly: Truly is an app that translates populist statements, sensationalized headlines, and politically distorted opinions into verifiable facts. Not finger-pointing. Not moralizing. But comprehensible, transparent, and understandable.
Facts instead of finger-pointing: political content explained anew
In a time when emotions blare louder from political loudspeakers than evidence, Truly helps people form their own informed opinions again. For everyday life. For political education. For cities. And for media and businesses. We want to bring ease back to fake checks, take personal circumstances into account, and above all, build everything on a neutral, unbiased foundation.
Fake news spreads six times faster than facts, and 83 percent of Europeans believe that disinformation threatens our democracies. That's precisely where we come in. We don't just expose fake news; we see ourselves, in the long term, as Democracy OS, a platform for strengthening democracy.
Manipulation check with AI to make critical thinking accessible
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Timo Wagner: Not really. Correctiv, for example, offers a fact-checking service via WhatsApp. There are also a few apps that process curated fake news or provide educational support to help users uncover fake news themselves. We take a different approach. We use artificial intelligence (AI) to identify fake news and categorize it through our manipulation check. Fake news isn't just rhetorical accidents; it's usually subject to deliberately employed manipulation techniques, which we uncover and contextualize. We teach people to understand the logic behind statements, which rhetorical patterns are used, which psychological triggers are at work, and where context is missing or distorted.
Truly makes critical thinking accessible.
In addition, we offer other features such as dynamically generated Truly cards, soft entries, location-based data and hopefully a youth version soon.
From election campaign observation to the European response
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Timo Wagner: We've all seen it in political elections: the loudest voices win. Not because they're right, but because they speak most simply and their words are repeated most quickly. Facts, context, nuance – all of that fades into the background. Complexity is ignored. Polarization is rewarded.
Truly arose from this observation. Our very specific springboard for action was the political snap election last year. Because that's where it all came crashing down on us. Right-wing voices weren't just heard, they were amplified. And the responses were too slow, too superficial, too focused on finding the right words, too moralizing.
We wanted to provide a pragmatic answer. One that didn't sound preachy, but was genuinely understood. One that was accessible. One that was faster than the next meme. First a custom GPT, then social media assets – small, simple tools to provide guidance instead of just repeating opinions. We were supported by, among others, people who really know their stuff, activists like Micha Fritz, someone who has always stood for clear communication. After the elections came the sobering realization: now more than ever. Then the city of Munich took notice of us, and in less than a week, an independent app emerged as a European response to fake news. The foundation for everything that followed.
Trust, visibility, and social impact scaling
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Timo Wagner: The biggest challenge right now isn't even technological. The foundation of our current app was built in just one week. For us, scaling and visibility are probably the most challenging issues. It's still difficult to scale social impact startups in the same way as, say, regular tech startups. On the other hand, our offering is aimed at target groups like educational institutions, organizations, or municipal agencies where decision-making processes take a bit longer. And ultimately, the most important currency for us is trust. Do users believe that we are neutral and not politically biased, and do they generally trust our application? Trust is no longer a given these days; it's an asset that you really have to earn.
From the classroom to the Democracy OS
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Timo Wagner: In one year, we want to be the go-to application against disinformation in German-speaking countries. Established in educational institutions, a core component of, for example, the constitutional law lesson, or a role model in political education. Ultimately, we want to become the top-of-mind application when it comes to finding solutions against disinformation in the media context. Quickly accessible and in simple language.
In five years, we will no longer be an application, but a platform, a Democracy OS. Truly will then be the home for fact-based public debates. For media, education, civil society, and businesses. We will no longer have an AI solution as a Large Language Model (LLM), but a living agentic system that moderates, better recognizes cultural and local contexts, and, ideally, independently and in real time crawls, identifies, and categorizes disinformation.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Timo Wagner: Munich is certainly one of the startup hubs, but more cautious than necessary. There are strong networks, brilliant minds, and genuine interest in innovative solutions. So far, we've been supported by truly wonderful people—people who believe in us and our mission. We are incredibly grateful for that. At the same time, there's a certain fear of taking a stand, of speaking plainly, of friction, of anti-bureaucracy. And ultimately, there's still a lack of straightforward access to capital, especially for social enterprises.Impact-Startups in the tech sector.
Munich Startup: Risk or security?
Timo Wagner: The future needs risk. And democracy needs security. Yet we choose risk. Our topic is contentious, one that demands a firm stance. If we aren't willing to take risks, we cede the field to those who shout the loudest and whose echo reverberates the longest. And that would certainly be the most risky option.
